The present disclosure is generally directed to polyester synthesis processes and, more specifically, to processes for the modification of polyester resins which, in turn, may be utilized in the formation of emulsion aggregation toners.
Electrophotographic printing, including xerographic printing, utilizes toner particles which may be produced by a variety of processes. One of the processes is an emulsion aggregation (“EA”) process that forms acrylate based, e.g., styrene acrylate, toner particles in which surfactants are used in forming the latex emulsion. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,967, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, as one example of such a process. Other examples of emulsion/aggregation/coalescing processes for the preparation of toners are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,403,693, 5,418,108, 5,364,729, and 5,346,797, the disclosures of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. Other processes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,527,658, 5,585,215, 5,650,255, 5,650,256 and 5,501,935, the disclosures of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Combinations of amorphous and crystalline polyesters may also be used in the EA process to form low-melt polyester toners. This resin combination provides toners with high gloss and relatively low-melting point characteristics, which allow for more energy efficient and faster printing. However, some resins may be incompatible with other components of a toner particle, for example waxes used therein. Therefore there is a continual need for improving polyester resin synthesis, as well as improving the compatibility of the resins with other components of toner particles.